Belfast woman Rebecca Shorten helped the Great Britain women's eight rowing squad claim a silver medal at the first World Cup regatta of the season.

Shorten and her GB team-mates finished four seconds behind the Netherlands but were ahead of two Chinese crews in yesterday's final in Belgrade.

It was a busy regatta for the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland who also competed in the women's four with Great Britain taking fourth in that race, also won by the Dutch.

Shorten and co missed out on bronze by just 0.24 of a second and will now look forward to the second World Cup regatta of the season in Linz, Austria between June 22 and 24.

In the past Northern Ireland rowers were well represented at the World Cup, but Shorten was the only competitor from the country this time around with Coleraine's Peter Chambers out of action at present, Joel Cassells retired and Enniskillen's Holly Nixon recovering from injury.

Now a key figure in the women's eight for GB, Shorten racing in the women's four is interesting as that event will be in the Olympics for the first time in Tokyo 2020.